Wednesday, 23 May 2012

This book is LOSER by American author Jerry Spinelli. It’s
lovely in every single way.

The cover is plain blue with a matt finish and the figure
depicted in the centre in white (it has a spot UV varnish on the line). Both
the title and the author’s name are in a recessive shade of blue. The design is
all about the crazy little dude in the middle. And that’s exactly what the book
is about: a crazy little dude called Donald Zinkoff.

The thing is, I’m not sure I should really be shouting too
much about the design of this HarperCollins edition when all credit should
really go to Orchard who published STARGIRL with a similarly bold design and,
in fact, did it first (did they? I'm not sure what the US cover was... feel free to correct me on this, if you're in the know). The simplicity of both covers reflects the simplicity of
the stories contained within. Both are about outsiders, people (children) who
couldn’t conform if they tried and who stand out... like, erm, white figures on
a plain background.

Loser is my personal favourite because of Donald, someone
ignorant of his own innocence in a way Stargirl isn’t. Donald really is a
loser, the kind of child even the weak would pick on. But there’s something
comforting in true innocence; you can’t be hurt by others’ cynicism; your love
for life is straightforward and unashamed; even taunts can pass you by if you
really are innocent through and through because you won’t see the intended slight.

I find something very liberating in thinking about
innocence. I’m jaded adult these days, but this book had me yelling “I can
spell tintinnabulation!” (and then failing miserably) for days. If you read it,
I reckon you’ll be doing the same.

Tuesday, 15 May 2012

Paul will commit
today’s event to the Memory, drink the Drink and when he wakes the Memory will
tell him what he needs to know. Or will it?

Part of the foundation of Catnip’s list is the strand of prize-winning
reissues we publish: Granny was a Buffer
(Carnegie); Song Quest (Branford
Boase); MapHead (Guardian). So it
makes sense to keep my eyes open for past prize winners that have dropped off
the grid. The Vandal is one such gem
– this 1980 Guardian prizewinner should never
have been out of print. The writer, Ann Schlee has had an adult novel (Rhine Journey) shortlisted for the
Booker and her insightful, intelligent writing is something that suits the sophistication
of today’s YA market.

The Hunger Games
might have softened us all up for combative dystopias, but The Vandal presents an altogether more insidious, disturbing
society in which the population entrust the day’s events to their own personal
Memory before they go to sleep at night after drinking the Drink. The next
morning the Memory delivers them the information required for them to go about
their day. So simple. So chilling.

The story follows one boy, Paul, after he commits an act of
vandalism – setting fire to a local sports centre – and his interaction with
the Father, his own family and the consequential punishment that follows this
indiscretion. I’m loathe to go into more detail about the plot as part of the
enjoyment comes from the ignorance with which you approach it. There’s a sense
of claustrophobia in the setting, a subtle mistrust as you find yourself
knowing more than Paul, yet knowing the past doesn’t mean you can predict the
future…

Reading The Vandal
felt a lot like the first time I read Lord
of the Flies or 1984, the feeling
that there are myriad ideas at play in what seems to be a simple set-up. Like
those well-remembered classics, this sparked a desire to really think about the themes that come into
play, of identity, free will, crime and punishment…

A perfect book for the burgeoning teen mind that hungers for
the exploration of the boundaries that this (non-dystopian…?) society places on
them.